Socioeconomics and the Divide
This page was written by Cynthia Robbins Introduction There are 31 million homes in the United States “without a home or mobile broadband subscription.” President Obama has promised to work on bridging digital divide by 2020 with a national broadband plan. But the target to give all Americans affordable broadband is a hard target to hit. Rural America was thought to lack the most broadband in the nation, but http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/acs/acs-28.pdfCensus Bureau statistics show that there is disparity in American towns and cities as well. These facts illustrate the economic digital divide. Pew Internet Research Report In 2013, Pew Internet Research Reported that Internet use by people in the $150K or more brackets was at 90%. In the homes reporting less than $10K of income, 42% had Internet access. High School graduates had one of the lesser numbers for home broadband at 53%. College graduates are at 89%. If you are a newcomer to technology, you will most likely need help with it according to the report as 63% answered they would. You can make the correlation that people who can’t afford an internet connection have to depend on other places to get a connection, such as school or a library. They don’t spend as much time using the Internet as people with higher incomes. View the slideshare. College Students Speak About the Digital Divide Students of all ages can be affected by digital divide. Affected students enter college with few technology skills. What if you don’t have proper access to the Internet at home? What does this do to your college experience? In an article sharing student thoughts, Patrick Hopkins, who grew up in a low-income environment and now teaches says, “Without adequate learning resources and safe and secure learning environments low income student cannot compete in today’s society.” Trevor Cline commented he also had few resources as a student. “I grew up in a school where we did not use technology very much and this made me be behind somewhat once I got to college...Once I got to college almost everything was done through technology and I was learning as we went with a lot of the technology programs.” Cline was not prepared to go to college. People with access to technology and devices might not be able to image a life that is without. Access to Information The New York Times and Pew Internet Research Center outline how adults are missing opportunities when they lack computers or Internet. There are many jobs that require computer proficiency. Education is also moving online with regular online classes and MOOCs (massive open online courses). People bank online. Connectivity with friends and the outside world is commonplace in households with computers. Adults who are too poor to own a computer with Internet access are information poor as well as economically poor. As services and tasks move increasingly online, these adults can’t access the following: * Job information and job applications * Government services * Healthcare and medical information * Education resources * Connectivity to family and friends Libraries can bridge the digital divide. This short video showcases the Alasksa OWL program. For all 16 videos showing libraries at work go here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCE1B8F42CC5CDC8C Further Reading * State of Libraries Report 2014 * Internet Use in Libraries * Pew Research Center ‘